Fanboys, the comedy about a bunch of friends who make a road trip across the US back in 1998 with the intention of breaking into Skywalker Ranch so they can steal an early version of Star Wars: Episode One finally comes out today after years of delays. Good luck finding a theater near you that's playing it though. It's only being shown on 44 movie screens in the entire country.
44 Screens? That's it? What the fuck? Why is it getting such a crappy release? The film has been talked about in nerd circles for years. Bits and pieces of it have been shown at cons across the country and the reactions and reviews have almost entirely been positive. You'd think with Star Wars being such a big money maker, something based heavily on it would see a wider release, but no, it's barely being shown on more screens than the original Star Wars was back in 1977 (that number by the way was 32).
This has got to be a crushing blow to the film's creators who have spent years (literally) trying to get this thing release in theaters. A few years back they had made a deal with the Weinstein company to distribute the film but then there was a lot of arguing between the film company and the director about editing out a subplot of the film that would drastically change the whole story of the film. After a long time, the argument was settled, the subplot stayed in, and then the film has been delayed again and again for no real reason whatsoever.
And now it's out, but only in a select few cities. So now it's up to us folks. This film deserves to be successful, so we should all start planning road trips to go see it at the closest theater to you. I'm definitely going to go see it tonight. I was originally thinking on passing on the film tonight when some friends of mine were going to see it because I figured I'd see it tomorrow. But now I know that the film has been released on so few a number of screens. It's changed my mind. Come hell or high water I'll be in line to see the film tonight with my friends. I feel the need to support this film, and I hope you all can help out.
the closest one to me is in LA.
ReplyDeleteAnd didn't their original movie poster look more like a Star Wars parody and not a 40 Yr Old Virgin parody?
I'm also over the whole "Year Book Photo Backdrop" theme.
The dvd sales will probably do better than the box office, are they trying to create their own cult classic? I know when they first showed this at Con back it ot-6 they seemed excited and happy with the response they got from the crowd that they didn't voluntarily choose to delay this film.
I feel bad for the people originally involved with the project.
This is like writing a love letter to the girl you like in class and you ask someone to pass the note to her and when she opens it people along the line started writing in it.
I saw it last night. You know, it's funny. It's not amazing. For the talent involved, it could have been better. But,it's one of those unfortunate films that get caught in production hell. Too bad. I don't understand the marketing, though. Word of mouth on this is not the right strategy. They should have done a wide release and to make as much as possible on the one weekend it would have done business.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it. I agree with you Robert that it wasn't a great film by any means, but it was amusing and had a number of good scenes. Overall I think it deserved a better release than it has gotten.
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